


A fresh breath of air

by Turtelini



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Short, Trolls (Homestuck), fantroll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 05:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16737661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turtelini/pseuds/Turtelini
Summary: Osteos discovers what is behind the entrance door of his hive for the first time in his life.





	A fresh breath of air

The room was almost completely quiet, only the sound of a knife cutting through something soft broke through the silence occasionally. Between glowing vines, roots and bushes a slender being kneeled, blending in nearly perfectly into his self-grown garden. Osteos has learned early how to care for plants, and recently he started to discover even more about the art of gardening. From what plants affect each other’s growth to what music his subjects prefer, Osteos has tested a great deal of ideas he had, and his caretaker left him. He loved the feeling of being in control over his own garden and his own little science. Whenever he left the repurposed corner of his hive, though, he instantly got reminded of everything that happened inside the only place he knew. This is the reason why Osteos spends hours after hours amid life forms that resembled him far more than any other troll ever could. It was a way to escape the harsh reality of life. A life he only recently learned to have control over by himself. Maybe not completely by himself, Enaicy supported him the whole time since their first conversation. Enaicy was a ray of hope in times of despair, she constantly knew what to do when and Osteos was glad about that. She accepted him the way he is. A sudden sound made him jump up, it was one of the few noises that made him feel happy. Quickly he brushed the dirt off his knees and fastened the knife on his belt, next to a little shovel and a handy rake. Without them he would feel naked, they were his most precious possessions. Carefully Osteos approached his desk. It would be devastating if he would hurt one of his subjects. He pulled up a chair from the side and sat down, opening the blinking notification. After seeing who wrote him a big smiley spread on his face.  


“Hey Os!” was written in purple alternian letters. The last time they wrote was yesterday, Enaicy promised him that she would gift him something special that day. Excited by this Osteos started to type an answer as fast as possible. “Hey Enaicy! I was waiting all day, you kept me guessing your gift for hours!” He leaned back and waited for her response. The day before he woke up again from one of his sleep phases and just seconds afterwards Enaicy messaged him her plan for the following day. Since then Osteos tried to occupy himself as much as possible to keep his mind from overthinking the present. “Yeah, I prepared everything for it. It won’t disappoint you!” Osteos started to tremble from excitement. Part of him really wanted to see what Enaicy made for him. Another part of him was deeply afraid. The last time someone surprised him, it didn’t end well for anyone. Tears started filling his eyes and slowly running down his cheeks. He felt the voices starting to whisper inside his head again. Ignoring them as far as he could he wiped away his tears. “I bet it won’t. When will I get it?” The next message came in almost immediately. “It already arrived. Just look outside!” The world stopped for a second. Outside? Did Enaicy just tell him to leave his hive? “But … it’s dangerous outside!” He never saw what was beyond the entrance door of his hive. Encsen made sure that Osteos would never forget what dangers lingered in the outside world. According to his caretaker, he wouldn’t be able to survive a minute out there. He rambled about a star burning your eyes and slowly boiling your skin, about poisonous lusi crawling around the ground, about even bigger lusi ready to taste Osteos blood. These were the stories that gave Osteos a whole lot of nightmares back then, and even thought the nightmares became fewer over the years, he never really forgot them. Another sound asked for his attention. “You never were outside as far as I know, how would you know? I thought you are a scientist, and scientist need to try stuff out. Medeae thinks so, and you should think like that as well if you want to prove yourself! I believe in you!”  


She can’t be wrong, she never was. Osteo leaned back and sighed deeply, he didn’t want to do this … but he had to. Without answering Enaicy he slowly stood up and turned towards the entrance door. Theoretically there was a window next to it, but just like every other window in his hive, it was covered with fabric and tape. It was Encsen’s idea to do that, it was a necessary measurement to create a better environment for his plants. The need darkness, vibrations and the comfort of their kind around them. Another reason why Osteos feels drawn to his little subjects. They need him, and he needs them just as much. Another notification sound echoed through the messy lab and he knew it was Enaicy. Another breath, another step. It was a slow approach, but it was more than he ever dared to do in years. Cautiously Osteos reached for the door handle, his anxiety growing with each inch his hand moved towards the only way out of the safest space he knew. More and more sounds came from behind him, but he ignored them as far as possible. The voices inside his head grew louder and more obnoxious. Some of them talked in languages Osteos didn’t understand, others tried to warn him from leaving his home and some even pushed him to do it.  
In the end, none of that mattered when he felt the fresh and cold air brush past his bare skin. His fear left him, and a new emotion took up the hole that it had left behind.  


What he saw, was more beautiful than anything Osteos could have ever imagined. In front of him was a glade of lilac grass, slowly swaying in rhythmic waves. A dense forest of tall and thin trees surrounds the field and narrow Osteos’ view of the blue sky. At first, he was too afraid to even look up, Encsen told him repeatedly that the sun would burn his skin and blind him forever. However, there is no sun in sight and all he felt was a comforting chill. Encsen lied. These two words got repeated by every other voice inside his head, it felt like a crowd was chanting it and came closer with every second. Tears filled his eyes again and another thought crossed his mind. Encsen imprisoned Osteos and told him that’s just the way life on Alternia is. If he lied about what is beyond the entrance door, could he have lied about the second part as well? His stomach felt like it turned upside down and his tears of sadness turned into tears of anger.  
The troll turned around instantly and almost ran to his laptop. He wanted to ask why, but deep inside he already knew the answer to that question. Encsen’s goal wasn’t to protect Osteos, but to keep him close to him and calm enough to finish his studies. Before Osteos could type anything, he looked down on his hands. They freed him from Encsen’s grasp years ago, and they freed him from his lies that day. “Did you know?” This time, it took Enaicy some time before she could respond. “Yeah of course I knew you would like it! Isn’t it beautiful! I grew it for some months, and I even tried giving it the same luminescent look as your garden has!”  
Enaicy’s message confused him. What was Enaicy talking about? He looked back at the door he left open. There was nothing besides the meadow out there, nothing that appeared as some kind of gift. Maybe it was next to the door? The only way to find out was to check again. Standing in the same spot he stood some minutes ago, he almost immediately discovered what was his friend meant. Right next to the door a plant bigger than Osteos and more beautiful than anything he grew by himself enjoyed the air it could get. She was right with her description. It was a tall bush with increasingly big leaves downwards, the biggest of them could cover his whole table. Even in such a bright environment Osteos easily could see bright veins all over the plant. He looked at his own arms, and slowly he put one of them next to a leaf. They had the exact same net of glowing veins. Enaicy didn’t gift him just some plant for his garden, she gave him another family member. The following hours he thanked Enaicy as often as he could. It took some time to dig a hole big enough for the new addition to his subjects, but when he was done and planted the gift in the middle of the garden, it just felt like it was meant to be there. The voices in his head didn’t let go of him, though. The work was distracting enough to ignore the dozens of voices coming from everywhere, but after that he just couldn’t act like they weren’t there.  


Tiredness took over him. His head felt heavy and full, the voices just added to it and what he lived through that day was enough for weeks. “I think I will need to go to sleep again, Enaicy. My headache is getting worse again.” He didn’t wait for any kind of goodbye, he would see her in some minutes anyway. Instead, Osteos headed for his makeshift kitchen instead. The original kitchen was stuffed with bad memories, and he just wouldn’t be able to bear reliving them again. The part of the main room he rearranged to have some space for cooking was small, but enough for what he needs to do. The refrigerator was originally a machine to cool down samples, now it is filled with prepared cups and bowls full of a yellowish goo. Osteos took two cups of goo out and placed them onto his self-made countertop. Before he could drink them, he needed to make sure everything was the way he needed it to be. First, he checked his garden again and made sure nothing hard and uncomfortable would lie around. Then, he powered up his stereo. It was right next to his garden, and it is mostly used for experiments concerning growth rates. Lately he discovered his own attraction to deep and strong bass, sounds that make his body vibrate. Configuring it for some minutes, he chose a melody he made some weeks ago. It was a mix of his beloved bass and a bunch of drums accompanying it rhythmically. With the new soundscape around him, the voices in his head drowned in it and were almost gone. It’s a temporary state, as they seem to grow stronger with time as well and can easily outweigh the melody. This is were the goo came in. Osteos grabbed them both and made himself comfortable in the dirt between his subjects. With no second to lose, he gulped them down as fast as possible. It was time to visit the land of light again, prospit. It took his drugs some minutes to work, but once they hit, Osteos passed out on the spot. Leaving behind his real self, he woke up at a place, where he could live to the fullest. A place without the voices, a place where Encsen never was able to reach him.


End file.
